California Dreaming While in Chile

Valparaiso & Viña del Mar, Jan 9-11

Visiting these 2 sister cities was like going home again to the States - or at least California - for Valparaiso strongly reminded me of my favorite American city, San Francisco, with its ever-so-steep streets, trolley buses and ascencors, brightly-colored architecture and grafitti, and the unfortunate smell of urine. Meanwhile, Viña del Mar, which is located just around the coastal bend from Valpo, was rather reminiscent of Carmel with its plush clifftop mansions, 5-star hotels and the slick smell of the noveau-riche permeating the boutiques and salons found on most street corners near the beach.

Of the two, I definitely preferred Valparaiso as I found its bohemian character artistically intoxicating. In fact, it was the first time during this backpacking trip that I found myself feeling "at home" and inspired photography-wise. Sure I tend to prefer photographing landscapes of the non-urban variety, but there´s just something about this city that had me constantly pressing my shutter release button. Wish I knew how to articulate it more precisely, but perhaps a few photos will manage to do what my words cannot?

I visited a number of galleries & workshops in the Concepcion area of Valparaiso and ended up purchasing a pair of lovely glass earrings ($4 for the pair!) from an artist there. One gentleman´s work I found particularly interesting was Alberto Lagos who is doing amazing things with photo montages. Check out his website at http://albertolagos.blogspot.com. If I had had the money to purchase/ship one of his pieces back to the States, I would have done it in a heartbeat.


The only thing worth mentioning about Viña del Mar, excuse me while I yawn, was my visit to the Castillo Wulf, a decidedly tacky Walt Disneyesque fairy castle located along the shore. It was built by a German trader, Gustavo Wulff, back in 1904, but has since been altruistically turned into a modern art museum. During my visit, there was an exhibition of Chilean female sculptors. While sculpures are not particularly my favorite art form, I found a number of the pieces on display both striking and thought provoking.

Next up?? Cheers from a vinyard in the Curico Valley...

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